The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-10-27
arth between rundown and sunrise they

earth between rundown and sunrise they
quit this world at its darkest, and heav-
en-, always h light, will be the brighter
for that contrast. Out of blackness into
irradiation. Shall we then leap over the
roseate bank of sunset into the favorite
hunting ground of disease and death,
carrying our animosities with us? Who
would want to confront his God, against
whom we have all done meaner things
than anybody has ever done against US,
carrying old grudges? How can we ex-
pect his forgiveness for the greater when
we are not willing to forgive others the
less? Napoleon was encouraged to un-
dertake the crossing of the Alps because
Charlemagne had previously crossed
them. And all this rugged path of for
giveness bears the bleeding footsteps of
him who conquered through suffer-
ing, and we ought to be will
ing to follow. On the night of
our departure from this life into the
next, our one plea will have to be for
mercy, and it will have to be offered in
the presence of him who has said: eff
you forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your heavenly father forgive
your trespasses." What sorry plight
if we stand there hating this one, and
hating that one, and wishing this one a
damage, and wishing some one else a
calamity, and we ourselves needing for
givenesS for ten thousand times ten
thousand obliquities of heart and life.
When our last hour comes we want it to
find us all right. Hardly anything af-
fects me SO much in the uncovering of
io1ot fto IF 41,o
ancient soldier who, after the city had
for many centuries been covered with
the ashes and scorie of Vesuvius, was
found standing in his place on guard,
hand on spear and helmet on head.
Others fled at the awful submergement,
but the explorer, 1,700 years after, found
the body of that brave fellow in right
position. And it will be a grand thing
if, when our last moment comes, we are
found in right position toward the world,
as well as in right position toward God,
on guard and unaffrighted by the ashes
from the mountain of death. l do not
suppose that 1 am any more of coward
than most people, but l declare to you
that would not dare to sleep tonight if
there were any being in all the earth
with whom I would not gladly shake
hands, lest, during the night hours, my
spirit dismissed to other realms, / should,
because of my unforgiving spirit, be de-
MED divine forgiveness.
''But," says some woman, ''there is
horrid creature that has SO injured me
that rather than make up with her l
would die first" Well, sister, you may
take your choice-for one or the other it
will be-your complete pardon of her or
Gods eternal banishment Of you. ''But,
says some man, ''that fellow who cheated
me out of those goods, Or damaged my
business credit, or started that lie about
me in the newspapers, or by his perfidy
broke up my domestic happiness, forgive
him l cannot, forgive him l will not. y
Well, brother, take your choice. You
viii never be at peace with God till you
are at peace with man. Feeling as you
now do, you would not get so near the
harbor of heaven as to see the ightship.
Better leave that with the God who said:
vengeance is mine, will repay" You
may say: II will make him sweat for
| that yet, I viii make him squirm, [
mean to pursue him to the death, but
you are damaging yourself more than
you damage him and you are making
heaven for your soul an impossibility
If he will not be reoonciled to you, be
reconciled to him. In five or siz hours
it will be sundown. The dahlias VIII
bloom against the western sky, Some
where between this and that take a
shovel and bury the old. quarrel at least
six feet deep. ''Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath. }"
But" you say, 81 have more than I
can bear. Too much is put upon me, and
l am not to blame if I am somewhat re-
vengeful and unrelenting," Then I
think of the little child at the moving of
some goods from store. The father
was putting some rolls of goods on the
child's arm, package after package, and
some one said That child is being over
loaded, and SO much ought not to be put
upon her" when the child said: s'Father
knows how much l can carry" And
God, our Father, will not allow too much
imposition on his children. In the day of
eternity it will be found you had not one
annoyance too many, not one exaspera-
ton too many, not one outrage too many.
Your heavenly Father knows how much
you can carry.
Again, we ought not to allow the pass
age of the sunset hour before the dis
missal of all our affronts, because we
may associate the sublimest action of the
soul with the sublimest spectacle in ma
ture. 1t is a most delightsome thing to
have our personal experiences allied with
certain objects. There is tree or river
bank where God first answered your
prayer. You viii never pass that place
or think of that place without thinking
! of the glorious communion. There was
some gate, or some room, Or some garden
walk, where you were affianced with the
companion who has been your chief Joy
in life. You never speak of that place
but with smile. Some of you have
pleasant memories connected with the
evening star, or the moon in its first
quarter, or with the sunrise, because you
saw it just as you were arriving at har-
Dor after a tempestuous voyage, Forever
and forever, o hearer, associate the sun
set with your magnanimous, out and
out, unlimited remuneration of all hatreds
and forgiveness of all foes. l admit it is
the most difficult of all graces to prac-
tice, and at the start you may make a
complete failure, but keep oil ~ the at
tempt to practice it. Shakespeare wrote
ten plays before he reached Hamlet, and
seventeen plays before he reached Mer-
chant of Venice, and twenty EIGHT plays
before he reached Macbeth. And gradu-
ally you will come from the easier graces
to the most difficult. Beside that. it is
not matter Of personal determination
so much as the laying hold of the al
mighty arm of God, who will help us to
do anything we ought to do. Remember
that in all personal controversies the one
least to blame will have to take the first
step at pacifcation, if it is ever
effective. The contest between AEschines
and Aristippus resounds through history,
but Aristippus, who was least to blame,
went to A1schines and said: ''Shall we
not agree to be friends before we make
ourselves the laughing stock of the
whole country?" And Aschines said:
Thou art far better man than I, for l
began the quarrel, but thou hast been
-N So go n n ooo